In the PRS community, take that X 10, seems everyone is qualified to review products, even more qualified if you are sponsored by that company. In all honesty, it takes a higher than normal intelligence, or extreme diligence to find the driving forces behind it to make an informed choice.
Gun Writers Discussion
- Thread starter Baddog0302
- Start date
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
Pat McManus was awesome. Now that was one funny guy! Remember the character "Retch"? Even the name was pure inspiration.
PS was the niche mag for BR types and rifle accuracy folks for years. A library of PS is a real education. (Precision Shooting, BTW)
I still read my old copies, and ones guys have given to me, first, because I am old and still read on paper and ink, and secondly, because I am stuck somewhere in about 1990. I really like the articles, seeing "who was who" and reading lists of BR matches, putting names with faces and internet handles.
The only shocking thing is reading an article by a guy, wishing i could meet him and then finding out he died 15 years ago. Never fails to make me sad. (and feel old)
I do not recall many, if any so called reviews. On occasion one writer would publish an article titled "Good stuff" and in it detail some nice products he bought and used. Otherwise, endorsements of products were generally between the lines. Guys would detail the action, or barrel, or trigger, or accessory used and I learned a lot about good products that way. Not being a BR type I never was exposed to sinclair etc until PS, and from there upgraded all my stuff to better equipment, better loading practices, better better...and now I am chock full of stuff in my reloading room and spent a ton of cash "saving money" reloading.
cheers,
Snert
PS was the niche mag for BR types and rifle accuracy folks for years. A library of PS is a real education. (Precision Shooting, BTW)
I still read my old copies, and ones guys have given to me, first, because I am old and still read on paper and ink, and secondly, because I am stuck somewhere in about 1990. I really like the articles, seeing "who was who" and reading lists of BR matches, putting names with faces and internet handles.
The only shocking thing is reading an article by a guy, wishing i could meet him and then finding out he died 15 years ago. Never fails to make me sad. (and feel old)
I do not recall many, if any so called reviews. On occasion one writer would publish an article titled "Good stuff" and in it detail some nice products he bought and used. Otherwise, endorsements of products were generally between the lines. Guys would detail the action, or barrel, or trigger, or accessory used and I learned a lot about good products that way. Not being a BR type I never was exposed to sinclair etc until PS, and from there upgraded all my stuff to better equipment, better loading practices, better better...and now I am chock full of stuff in my reloading room and spent a ton of cash "saving money" reloading.
cheers,
Snert
Milo,
you missed out on a great magazine in Precision Shooting. Mostly guys who shot and reported back on results, and short range BR matches. PS had an in depth article on the two "P"s who invented the 6PPC in the mid seventies. A dentist named Palmisano, and Ferris Pindell, a machinist who made most of the bullet dies for the factories. Brian Litz is his 21st century counterpart.
A gunsmith named Seeley Masker who teamed up with Dave Tooley and a few others, who offered an accuracy alternative to the PPC when NORMA would not produce sufficient quantities of quality PPC brass. Masker took 30-30 brass, which was nearly identical in specs to the basic PPC brass, and created the 6MM SM Wasp, an update of Harvey Donaldson's 219 Don Wasp about 85 years ago. It worked well enough that PS magazine promoted it to Federal, who manufactured the 30 American cartridge. 30-30 case built by the special match brass crew. It featured true match specs, a small primer pocket, and nearly knocked the PPC case out of BR. The old NORMA brass was so soft, competitors prepped the case, shot a warm-up match, five reloads, and often held the primer against the case with their thumb to get that fifth reloading.
Boyd Mace started the section on long range live varmint shooting, applying BR quality standards to Prairie Dog shooting out in the west. He was a maintenance supervisor at the Bridger Power Plant in Bridger, Wyoming. A year or two later I got involved, same project shooting Rockchucks in Idaho. The fancy multi-reticle range finder style scopes so common these days, 25 years I got Premier Reticle in Winchester, VA, to do a boost of a Leupold 6,4-20X 40mm scope to 18-42X, and convert it to first focal plane reticle and multiple windage lines and dots.
I am NOT boosting myself, just letting this generation know all the wonderful accuracy things were done a quarter-century ago at PS magazine.
It was a magazine for accuracy shooters, written by a non-professional staff. Like here, shooters just conducted an experiment, and wrote it up. Oh, yeah, there was no internet at that time, or cell phones, or way to share what was learned other than PS.
you missed out on a great magazine in Precision Shooting. Mostly guys who shot and reported back on results, and short range BR matches. PS had an in depth article on the two "P"s who invented the 6PPC in the mid seventies. A dentist named Palmisano, and Ferris Pindell, a machinist who made most of the bullet dies for the factories. Brian Litz is his 21st century counterpart.
A gunsmith named Seeley Masker who teamed up with Dave Tooley and a few others, who offered an accuracy alternative to the PPC when NORMA would not produce sufficient quantities of quality PPC brass. Masker took 30-30 brass, which was nearly identical in specs to the basic PPC brass, and created the 6MM SM Wasp, an update of Harvey Donaldson's 219 Don Wasp about 85 years ago. It worked well enough that PS magazine promoted it to Federal, who manufactured the 30 American cartridge. 30-30 case built by the special match brass crew. It featured true match specs, a small primer pocket, and nearly knocked the PPC case out of BR. The old NORMA brass was so soft, competitors prepped the case, shot a warm-up match, five reloads, and often held the primer against the case with their thumb to get that fifth reloading.
Boyd Mace started the section on long range live varmint shooting, applying BR quality standards to Prairie Dog shooting out in the west. He was a maintenance supervisor at the Bridger Power Plant in Bridger, Wyoming. A year or two later I got involved, same project shooting Rockchucks in Idaho. The fancy multi-reticle range finder style scopes so common these days, 25 years I got Premier Reticle in Winchester, VA, to do a boost of a Leupold 6,4-20X 40mm scope to 18-42X, and convert it to first focal plane reticle and multiple windage lines and dots.
I am NOT boosting myself, just letting this generation know all the wonderful accuracy things were done a quarter-century ago at PS magazine.
It was a magazine for accuracy shooters, written by a non-professional staff. Like here, shooters just conducted an experiment, and wrote it up. Oh, yeah, there was no internet at that time, or cell phones, or way to share what was learned other than PS.
Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
Well, 25 years ago there was just barely a WWW, but there was already the Internet, and something called "Usenet" with a tree of forums including "rec.guns" where I read influential posts by the likes of Dan Hackett and Toby Bradshaw (and others) and where I posed questions. But it was still the digital wilderness, if it was starting to be tamed.
To this day I still prefer hardcopy print magazines anyway, but I now I tend to toss them soon after reading, knowing the content is available online. I do still have a few old issues of PS and VH magazines - somewhere.
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Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
True. But, while I revere my 250 AI, the man did load his Improved version to much higher pressures than the factory 250 Savage loads, probably more so than with his 257 Roberts Improved and most others.
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The top of the chain was the .25-35 WCF at 25%, .30-40 Krag at 19.3%, .250 Savage at 17%.
Those that write shouldn't, and those that should don't
That's not always true. Boyd Mace, our own Mr. K, Jim Carmichel, etc., were pretty good at getting their point across AND could shoot. Not sure why intelligent folks can't do both with a fair degree of expertise.
Yeah, I got a big crate of old PS mags, too...............
That brought a smile to my face while enjoying my morning coffee.
When Jim Carmichael wrote that the 225 Winchester was the most accurate round that he had ever tested. He lost my respect,as well as him claiming to be the"Dean" of gun writers.
He might not have been the "dean" of gun writers, but as a writer, he certainly wielded a great deal of influence.
Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
Oh, I dunno. Peter Ustinov once uttered that Gallo was "possibly the finest wine you've ever tasted". Was he wrong?
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Wish I had Jim Carmichel's prowess at Benchrest. He has hunted extensively in places that I could only dream of. I may not agree on every cartridge he is fond of but I do not agree on every cartridge all of my favorite writers liked over the years. Each scribe brings his own particular expertise to the publication and we can either like or dislike their work. It is hard to please everyone especially in our present atmosphere where 90% or your readers are experts in their own minds.
There are a lot of decent greatly experienced outdoor writers. A lot of them are guides and have lots of experience in hunting. I don't expect a writer to trash any product. They do tell when they experience problems and usually send the firearm back to the manufacturer to fix. I respect a writers ability to come up with different articles that interest the reader on a regular basis. I damned well couldn't do it myself and I don't think many here could either from what I read.
Outdoor publications have a hard row to hoe since the internet came along. I too miss Precision Shooting and hate to see any publication go out of business. I want our sport of shooting to thrive and enjoy reading different articles.
Joe
There are a lot of decent greatly experienced outdoor writers. A lot of them are guides and have lots of experience in hunting. I don't expect a writer to trash any product. They do tell when they experience problems and usually send the firearm back to the manufacturer to fix. I respect a writers ability to come up with different articles that interest the reader on a regular basis. I damned well couldn't do it myself and I don't think many here could either from what I read.
Outdoor publications have a hard row to hoe since the internet came along. I too miss Precision Shooting and hate to see any publication go out of business. I want our sport of shooting to thrive and enjoy reading different articles.
Joe
I never did pay much attention to his reloading topics. But always considered his works limited, always 243 vs 270, or 25.06< which I think he really liked.
On a lighter note, we sound like women critiquing others apparel.
Don't ask me that question, I'm brutally honest, yes, yes it does!
I see this has ventured WAY off the subject, I should have added that the questionable honesty of some of todays gun writers, has a lot to do with their age. The ones I'm referring to couldn't go 5 min. with out checking his "dingle berry" or "maxi pad"
and think that the young members of today's manufacture's sponsored shooting teams are the greatest.
Google TP9SFx, if possible, check the age of the author .
and think that the young members of today's manufacture's sponsored shooting teams are the greatest.
Google TP9SFx, if possible, check the age of the author .
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